My spontaneous trip to Germany (where my brother lives) and then our trip to Switzerland and Italy--celebrating life again with food, wine and fun and good company.

07/07/2015

The long and winding road... up the Swiss Alps

Heading to Zweisimmen:

Bern was great and the drive to our hotel in the swiss alps means there were even more marvels before darkness fell. Snow topped mountains in the distance as we follow that rushing turquoise river up and up and up and it rushed down, down, down.

Sheer vertical rock rises around us as we weave through turns climbing ever higher. The traditional swiss style farmhouses cling to hillsides with lots and lots of sure footed goats (more on the goats later) and cows clinging to these steep inclines.

As we get higher and roads get even more twisting and narrow, the river is at times on our left or right and a mere couple of feet away, or we are seemingly inches away steep ravines on the side of the road . I am afraid of heights but the almost overwhelming beauty of the scenery around me overrides any fear and just leaves exhilaration. Jeff and I are exclaiming at almost every turn, ‘how freaking magnificent it all is’. We marvel that people live up in these alps and have this incredible beauty all the time.

We are staying at Gasthof Derby in the center of Zweisimmen, a charming ski and hiking area. This was a wonderful place, very nice and clean accommodations and a friendly staff. I would love to go back in winter and get my ski and snowboarding on. Jeff has been to the area many times to snowboard.